Examining how climate variability shapes women’s reproductive health and mobility in India

Climate variability increasingly shapes demographic behavior and health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries, yet its effects on women’s reproductive autonomy and mobility remain understudied as interrelated phenomena. This thesis examines how temperature and precipitation anomalies are associated with women’s desire for another child, contraceptive use, recent fertility, and short-term mobility in India, using five rounds of the IPUMS Demographic and Health Surveys (1992-2019) linked to gridded CRU TS climate data. Logistic regression models, including interaction terms by urban/rural residence and education, reveal that climate effects on reproductive health outcomes are highly differentiated by social position. Among more educated women, above-normal temperatures and rainfall are associated with modestly higher odds of desiring another child, while the pattern is reversed for less educated women. The most consistent finding is that both positive rainfall and positive temperature anomalies significantly reduce women’s odds of taking an extended trip away from home, across all educational groups. These results suggest that climate variability functions as a structural constraint on women’s reproductive autonomy and mobility, operating through gendered systems of socioeconomic inequality, household resources, and infrastructure, rather than in isolation. The findings are situated within a reproductive justice framework and carry implications for climate adaptation policy that centers women’s structural vulnerability.